Yesterday was the first lesson of the Zecca hummingbird class.  YAY!

This was a highly requested canvas.  (Hint if there is something brand new that you wish I would consider for a mystery class let me know.  It may speak to me and become a mystery class.)

You know I like to tackle backgrounds early on in a project and this canvas was no exception.  There’s a good bit of background but not all in one spot.  It’s a little here and a little there broken up with lots of little stems and leaves.  Ok, what to do?

If I were to do a counted stitch I would like it to mimic the leaves.  Uh oh, that’s lots of counting.

The stitch needs to be smallish and ideally not have a busy pattern that could distract your eye.  Hmmmm……

I decided on a random pattern with a slight twist.  Thank you Brenda Hart.  Brenda first introduced me to this concept years ago and it works great.  It gives you just a bit of texture but allows all the beautiful painting to show through!  You know I love that.

So here you go.  It’s just random long stitches worked vertically or horizontally.  RANDOM, random, RANDOM.  My stitches are long.  You can see they easily cover 7-9 threads.  If you are planning on making this a pillow that might see some touching and feeling you should make your stitches smaller.

The only real rules to this is use straight stitches only.  No diagonals.

Here’s the same stitch used on the skirt of the Bohemian Beauty by Shelly Penko.

 

So, what’s the twist this time?  Beads!!!  In the center, the light blue sky area I added beads on most of the vertical stitches!  Here’s the easy peasy part.  The thread of choice is Petite Silk Lamé Braid.  Thread it in a beading needle and pick up a size 11 seed bead or two with your stitch.  The beads will sit between canvas threads and stay put.  Easy peasy.

Are you curious about the go withs for this class?  Here’s our super cute new snap tray.

And because we wanted to do something different, here’s the new felt magnet that goes perfectly with the canvas!

More excitement to come.  The next lesson is in two weeks.  If you would like to join the fun, I do have canvases in stock.  You can order online here, or give us a call at 410.296.0405.  As always its going to be a wild ride.

xo
ruth